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OTSEGO lAKE. 



BEING A DESCRIPTIVK SKETCH OF THE PICTURESQUE 
VILIvAGE AND THE " GI^IMMERGI^ASS, " SCENIC 
ATTRACTIONS IN THE VICINITY, VIEWS, RAM- 
BLES, DRIVES, ETC., ETC., ETC. 



1889: 

C. H. POSSONS, PUBI.ISHER, 

GLENS FALLS, N. Y. 



OTSEGO I^KE. 

OTSEGO LAKE, made memorable by J. Fenimore Cooper 
in his " Leatherstocking " tales, has come to be a great 
Summer Resort, and thousands of people yearly view its 
charms. The Lake — Cooper's " Glimmerglass " — and the sec- 
tion immediately adjacent proves a Mecca to the invalid. 
Cooperstown, at its southern end, is 1200 feet above the sea ; 
the climate is dry, cool and bracing, and great numbers of 
people, spend the sultry months of summer here, where the 
city pallor is speedily exchanged for the rosy hue of health. 

Cooperstown is easy of access. From New York the tourist 
has the choice of two routes, viz. : New York Central & Hudson 
River Railroad to Albany, Delaware & Hudson Railroad to 
Cooperstown Junction, Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley 
Railroad to Cooperstown, Or, take Hudson River Steamers to 
Albany, thence as above. The second route is : West Shore 
Railway to Kingston, Ulster & Delaware Railroad to Stamford, 
(through cars from New York to this point) tally-ho coach or 
livery to Cooperstown Junction, rail to Cooperstown. There is 
is now under construction a road to connect with the Ulster & 
Delaware road which will give a through rail line from New 
York to Cooperstown — time, five hours. 

Arrived in Cooperstown the tourist finds himself at a quiet, 
yet often gay little centre of intelligence, wealth and culture, 
which has grown to be one of the most popular inland resorts 
of the Empire State. 

2 



Cooperstown is the seat of law and order for Otsego County 
and contains a population of about 2,600 inhabitants, noted for 
their high character, morality and intelligence. It is a village 
of handsome residences and pleasant homes, and the hand of 
eleo-ant culture is everywhere to be seen. The village has an 
excellent system of water-works, the supply being secured from 
Otsego Lake, and the water is considered as pure and whole- 
some as can be secured in the State. Cooperstown is one of 
the most healthful places in the State. During the year 1888 
there were but nineteen deaths on the corporation, and but one 
under 34 years of age— a child three and one-half years at the 
Orphanage, on the edge of the village, where there have been 
an average of seventy-five children. Leaving out that case, 
and of the eighteen deceased villagers fifteen were upwards of 
fifty-one years of age, six were from eighty to eighty-seven, 
eleven were upwards of sixty-two, the youngest was thirty-four, 
and the average age of the eighteen was sixty-five and one-half 
years. We doubt whether there there is another village of its 
size in the State, or even in the Union, that shows as favorable 
a report as this. Cooperstown has two Banks, six Churches, 
viz.: Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Universalist, Baptist, 
and Catholic ; a Union School and Academy ; three weekly 
newspapers ; several literary and secret societies, and a number, 
of eminent physicians and lawyers. 

The Orphanage of Cooperstown is a monument of the noble 
heart of Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of the great 
writer, James Fenimore Cooper. Its doors are open to homeless 
children from every part of the Diocese of Albany, and it is 
under the management of a board of trustees, of which Bishop 
Doane, of Albany, is President. 



Cooperstown is beautifully placed at the southern end of 
Otsego Lkae, being bounded on one side by its shores, and on 
another by its outlet, the Susquehanna River. 




HOTGL FeNI/\0I^e. 



Cooperstown is particularly fortunate in the matter of hotels, 
and possesses in Hotel Feniniore one of the finest hotels in the 
'State. Hotel Fenimore is of modern architecture ; is built of 
brick and stone, and is conceded by the traveling public to be 
equal in its appointments and table to any hotel outside the 
large cities. Hotel Fenimore is open all the year. It contains 
eighty rooms, nearly all of which are en suite. The ceilings 
are high, halls broad, and rooms large. The public rooms are 
very attractive in their furnishings, and the guest on entering 
the house is impressed with a satisfactory feeling of comfort, 
cleanliness and good living while under its roof. As a family 

4 



hotel the Fenimore is remarkably well fitted, suites of any 
number of rooms being furnished, thus affording the occupants 
nearly all the comforts and conveniences of home. The furni- 
ture is alike in all the rooms of the house ; each room has its 
separate steam-heat radiator ; is lighted with gas ; is connected 
with the office by electric bell ; and, best of all, every room 
opens to the daylight. Running water, bath-rooms and closets 
are on each floor, and, from a sanitary standpoint, the house is 
perfect. The interior of Hotel Fenimore has been freshly 
painted and renovated, and the house is in the very best con- 
dition. 



On the west of the Hotel, and just across Chestnut Street, 
are the Fenimore Cottages, three in number, combined under 
one roof. These Cottages contain thirteen rooms each and are 

5 



rented for the season. They embrace suites that are very com- 
plete, being steam-heated, and each suite having its bath-room 
with hot and cold water. There is a lawn in front of the Cot- 
tages, affording ground for lawn tennis. 

As a Summer Resort Hotel Fenimore is known far and wide, 
and is increasing in favor each year. The guests of the Feni- 
more come from all sections of the country and the hotel is the 
summer home of many celebrities. 

The proprietor of Hotel Fenimore is Mr. Jesse B. Brown, a 
hotel man of many years' experience. He is a natural land- 
lord, affable and agreeable, and is solicitous for the comfort of 
sfuests. 



orsGGO LAke. 



Otsego Lake extends, in a direction from north northeast to 
south southwest, about nine miles, and varies in width from 
about three-fourths of a mile to a mile and a-half. It has many 
bays and points, and, as the first are graceful and sweeping, 
and the last low and wooded, they contribute largely to its 
beauty. The shores are generally high, though greatly varied. 
On the eastern side extends a range of mountains that varies 
in height from four to six hundred feet. A road along this 
side of the Lake is peculiarly pleasant, and traveled persons 
call it one of the most strikingly picturesque roads within their 
knowledge. The western side of the Lake is also high. 

Immediately opposite to the village, on the eastern side of 
the valley, the range of mountain terminates, heaving itself up 
into an isolated hummock, however, before it melts away into 
the plain. The rise is called the ' ' Vision, ' ' and its summit is 
much frequented for its views, which are unrivalled in this 

6 



part of the country. The ascent is easy, by means of roads and 
paths, and when there, the spectator gets a bird's-eye view of 
the village and of the lake. The latter, in particular, is singu- 
larly^ lovely, displaying all the graceful curvatures of the west- 
ern shores, while the landscape behind them, and the hills 
beyond, is one of the richest and most pleasing rural pictures 
that can be offered to the eye. Nothing is wanting but ruined 
castles and recollections, to raise it to the level of the scenery 
of the Rhine, or, indeed, to that of the minor Swiss views. 

Prospect Rock, which lies on the same range with the Vision, 
also offers a good view of the village and the valley, though it 
does not command as extensive an horizon as the first. 

The mountains south of Cooperstown form a background of 
great beauty, and it is seldom that a more graceful and waving 
outline is met with anywhere. The Black Hills in particular 
are very fine, and are nearly a thousand feet above the level of 
the lake. 

The facilities for navigation on Otsego Lake are manifold. 
Besides the trim little steamers "Natty Bumppo," and the 
"Pioneer," which ply regularly up and down the lahe, con- 
necting at its northern end with a well-equipped line of stages 
and four-in-hands for Richfield Springs, there are neat little 
steam launches, the " Gem," and " Deerslayer," always at the 
service of private parties, and fleets of row-boats and sailing 
yachts, daintily painted and well-furnished, lying at the village 
docks, at the service of pleasure-seekers. 

To a lover of the beautiful, a visit to Otsego Lake would be 
beautiful, even if it had no associations. Cooper bestowed 
upon it in the Deerslayer the name of the " Glimmerglass, " 
which well describes its loveliness. The visitor comes to 
Cooperstown, upon its shores, to see the spot where Cooper's 




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0T5EQ0 LAKE:.\ 







house stood. The house has been burned down and the place 
neglected, but there are signs everywhere of the honor in which 
that novelist is held by the people. The hotels partake of his 
name. The steamers plying up and down the lake derive 
names from his novels. There is a • ' Leatherstocking Falls," 
and everywhere the nomenclature of the region is derived from 
his pages. 

The entire action of Deerslayer passes either upon the lake 
or its immediate shores. Two-Mile Point, on the western 
shore, is where Deerslayer and the Big Serpent landed to rescue 
Wah-ta-Wah from the Hurons. A mile further is Three-Mile 
Point, where Deerslayer first killed an Indian. The little 
promontory is now a site for picnics. Five-Mile Point is a 
favorite rendezvous for visitors. Back of the Point is a pictur- 
esque rocky gorge, called " Mohegan Glen" through which 
runs a purling brook. " Hutter's Point," just above, is where 
Deerslayer first saw the ' ' Glimmerglass. ' ' North of here most 
of the exciting scenes of the book are laid. Out in the center 
of the lake is a white barrel-buo)^ which marks the spot where 
' ' Muskrat Castle ' ' stood. The waters of the lake, in most 
other places of great depth, here shoal to but a few feet, make 
it well adapted for such a structure. The lake here attains its 
greatest width, stretching from Hutter's Point about two miles 
into Clarke's Bay, overlooking which, on the slopes of Mount 
Wellington, the walls of the English manor house, "Hyde 
Hall," peer forth among the darkling pines. Passing down 
the lake from Hutter's Point, and just at the entrance to the 
River, we find the rounded, bee-hive shaped rock, designated 
by Deerslayer as his point of meeting with Chingagook, well- 
known to all the Indians in that part of the country as a place 
of rendezvous. 

10 



" Kingfisher Tower, " erected by Mr. Edward Clark, in 1876, 
on Point Judith, about two miles up the lake, adds much to the 
picturesqueness of the lake scenery. This tower consists of a 
miniature castle, after the style of the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries, standing upon the extremity of the Point, and rising 
out of the water to a height of nearly sixty feet. The effect of 
the structure is that of a picture from mediaeval times, and its 
value to the lake is very great. 

Di^TANces AND PLii(es OF iNTei^esr. 

The numerous points of interest about Cooperstown, with 
distances from Hotel Fenimore, are : 

Fair View Road, in rear of Cooper house, fifteen minutes' 
walk. 

Cooper's grave, Episcopal Church yard, five minutes' walk. 

Site of Otsego Hall (Cooper's home) five minutes' walk. 

Hannah's Hill, west side of the lake, thirty minutes' walk, 

Lakewood Cemetery, east side of the lake, thirty minutes' 
walk. 

Prospect Rock, east side of the lake, forty minutes' walk. 

Mount Vision, east side of the lake, forty-five minutes' walk. 

Cooper's Monument, in Lake wood Cemetery. 

One-Half-Mile Bay, west side, one-fourth mile. 

Lakewood Cemetery Landing, east side, one-fourth mile. 

Fairy Spring, east side, one-half mile. 

The Echo and Natty Bumppo's Cave, east side, one mile. 

The Grove, west side, one and one-half miles. 

The Cascade, south side of Mount Vision, one and one-half 
miles. 

11 



Point Judith, east side, two miles. 
Water Lily Bay, west side, two and one-half miles. 
Wild Rose Point, or Three-Mile Point, west side, three miles. 
Deer Brook (the Dugway), east side, four and one-half miles. 
Five-Mile Point, west side, five miles. 
Canyon, at Five-Mile Point, west side, five miles. 
Gravelly Point, east side, six miles. 

The Shoal, site of Muskrat Castle, west side, seven and one- 
half miles. 

Head of the Lake, nine miles. 

The Chalet, Cooper Farm, two miles, 

Susquehanna Valley View, two miles. 

Leatherstocking Falls, two and one-half miles. 

Mohegan Glen, three miles. 

Hartwick Cemetery, four and one-fourth miles. 

Hartwick Lakes, five miles. 

Clarksville, six miles. 

Mount Otsego (sixty mile view), seven miles. 

Westford, or Moose Hill, nine miles, 

Pierstown Hills and back by lake shore, ten miles. 

Cherry Valley, thirteen miles. 

Richfield Springs, twelve and sixteen miles. 

Around the Lake, twenty miles. 

Middlefield Center, seven miles, 

Milford, eight miles. 

Sharon Springs, twenty miles, 

BOAT I^ANDIISrGrS. 

Foot of Fair street — ^Dock of Steamers "Natty Bumppo'' 
and "Pioneer." Kelly's Dock — Sail, Row and Fishing Boats. 

Foot of Pioneer Street — Cooper's Dock, Sail, Row and Fish- 
ing Boats. Dock of Steamer " Gem." 

12. 



Foot of Bay Street — Potter's Dock, Sail, Row and Fishing 
Boats. Steam Yacht ' ' Deerslayer. ' ' 

CHURCHES. 

Christ Church (Episcopal), River Street ; Rev. Charles S. 
Olmsted, Rector. 

Presbyterian, Pioneer Street ; Rev. James Otis Dennison, 
Pastor. 

Universalist, Pioneer Street ; Rev. S. W. Sutton, Pastor. 

Methodist Episcopal, Elm Street ; Rev. T. F. Hall, Pastor. 

Baptist, Elm Street ; Rev. B. G. Boardman, Pastor. 

St. Mary's (Catholic), Elm Street; Rev. Daniel O'Connell, 
Pastor. 

Y. M. C. A. — Rooms corner of Main and Fair Streets ; open 
day and evening. H. J. Wilkins, General Secretary. 

Di^iVe5 AND ei(ai^si0N5. 

A series of delightful drives may be taken about Coopers- 
town, each possessing its peculiar charm. Among them we 
will mention the following : 

Up the west side of the lake, to the first road on the left ; 
take that, and each succeeding left hand road, until you re- 
enter the village. Distance, about eight miles. 

Up the west side of the lake, till you reach the second road ; 
on through Pierstown, till you reach the first road running 
towards the lake ; that terminates at Five-Mile Point ; south 
along the lake until you re-enter the village. Distance, about 
eleven miles. 

Up the east side of the lake, about three miles, take the road 
leading across the mountain, and w'hich affords some of the 
finest views of the lake ; turn to the right on reaching the val- 

13 



ley beyond, and return to the Fenimore by the ' ' Vision ' ' road. 
Distance, about nine miles. 

Down the River road, west side, about three miles ; cross the 
valley by the first road. Phoenix Mills bridge ; return to the 
village by the road on the east side of the River ; or, continue 
on down the river about six miles from the Fenimore, to the 
Clinton factory, and cross there. 

Down the River road to the first road on the right ; take that 
through Toddsville, and return to the village by taking eithei 
a road over the hills, two turns to the right, or turn to the left 
and come back by way of the River road. The latter aboul 
seven miles ; the former about eight miles. 

Down the River road to the road next below Hartwick Semi- 
nary ; turn to the right ; at the top of the hill you reach twc 
beautiful little lakes. The view from this point, of the lake 
and village of Cooperstown is a very fine one. 

Cross either bridge at the village, into Middlefield ; turn 
south, and then drive around the ' ' beaver meadow, ' ' going one 
side of the hill and returning the other. Distance, about sever 
miles. 

The drive to ' ' Mount Otsego Observatory, ' ' about eight 
miles north of the Fenimore, affords one of the best and most 
extensive views in the State. 

" Hooker Mountain " is ten miles south, and rivals " Mount 
Otsego ' ' in variety and extent of prospect, many of the prom- 
inent peaks of the Catskills being visible on a clear day. In 
going, take the road through Westville, and return by the 
' ' gulf, ' ' on the direct road to Schenevus. 

"Moose Hill," near the line of Middlefield and Westford, 
about eight miles southeast of the Fenimore, affords an exten- 
sive view of a beautiful section of country. 

14 



In driving to Richfield Springs, it is well to go by way of the 
lake to Five-Mile Point, and over the hills to that noted resort ; 
or, through Pierstown and over Mount Otsego ; return by way 
of Schuyler's Ivake. Or, take the lake boat and tally-ho 
coach. There are several other routes to Richfield. 

In driving to Cherry Valley, those who do not know the 
roads to that historic town, will do well to follow the telegraph 
wires leading there. Or, drive to the head of the lake, turn to 
the right, and on about four miles to the village. Distance by 
this route, fifteen miles. 

A drive around the Lake, distance about twenty miles, is one 
of the most pleasant. 

The drive to Sharon Springs via Cherry Valley, is about 
twent5^-three miles. 

(00PeP< nONtlRGNT. 

No person will think of visiting Cooperstown and not see 
Cooper's Monument, in I^akewood Cemetery. The monument 
stands on an eminence, about forty feet above the waters of the 
lake. It is of white Italian marble, resting on a granite base 
six feet square. The shaft, including the base, die and cap 
from which it rises, is about twenty-five feet in height, and is 
surmounted by a richly carved Corinthian capital. Sculptured 
on the base is the name only, "J. Fenimore Cooper," encircled 
with a wreath of oak and laurel leaves. On the north, in high 
relief, are naval emblems, illustrating his romances of the sea 
and lakes, and his naval histories ; the anchor, the oar, the 
Indian paddle for the bark canoe, the naval sword and the 
harpoon of the whaleman. On the east side are sculptured the 
volumes of his works, with pen, inkstand, and an urn, with 

15 



incense rising. On the south side are emblems illustrating his 
Indian stories ; bows and arrows, the tomahawk, hunting- 
knife, bear's claws, etc. Crowning the column is a statue of 
the " Leatherstocking, " four and one-half feet high. He leans 
easily on his long rifle. Clad in hunting-shirt and deer-skin 
cap and leggins, his long powder-horn and bullet-pouch swung 
around his shoulder, his figure is life-like and full of expression. 
His dog is at his feet, looking up into the hunter's face with a 
look so expressive you almost expect him to speak. 

A climb up the precipitous mountain side beyond the Ceme- 
tery is rewarded by a sight of " Leatherstocking' s Cave." It 
hardly deserves so ambitious a name, being simply a small 
opening in the rocks, on which the thin covering of earth sup- 
ports a few scraggy trees, or, rather, bushes. Directly opposite 
this cavern, on the lake, a fine and distinct echo is obtained 
from the steep and rocky shore, calls being repeated up the 
mountain almost as distinctly as in the boats of a fishing 
party. 

The student of Natural History finds Cooperstown and 
vicinity a favored locality for the pursuit of his studies and 
investigations. The number and variety of trees, shrubs, 
mosses, ferns, flcwers, grasses, etc., growing here is very large, 
and not a few of them very rare. This locality is also visited 
by a great variety of birds, butterflies, moths of the larger 
species, etc. 

Cooperstown is a favorable location for persons threatened 
with pulmonary diseases. Actual tests and comparison have 
shown that Cooperstown affords a more uniform temperature 
and a dryer atmosphere than many places which boast freedom 
from pulmonary complaints. It is very seldom that a case of 
consumption is reported in this village. 

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